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Nielsen: In the U.S., white men carry the dumbest phones

By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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By
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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May 7, 2012, 11:00 AM ET

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FORTUNE — The move from so-called feature phones to smartphones continues apace.

As of March 2012, 50.4% of U.S. Mobile subscribers owned smartphones, up from 47.8% in December 2011, according to a Nielsen survey released Monday. Google’s (GOOG) Android was the most popular smartphone operating system (48.5%), while Apple (AAPL) was the No. 1 manufacturer (32%).

No surprises there.

It’s when the data are broken down by sex and ethnicity that things get interesting. According to Nielsen:

  • 67.3% of Asian Americans use a smartphone as their primary mobile handset, more than any other ethnic group.
  • Almost three out of five Hispanic mobile subscribers use smartphones
  • 54.4% African-Americans own smartphones
  • More than half (50.9%) of female mobile subscribers carry smartphones, compared with 50.1% for men.
  • More than two out of three 25-34 year olds use smartphones.

Which leaves, I guess, older white men carrying around the bulk of the remaining dumb phones.

For more on the survey, click here.

About the Author
By Philip Elmer-DeWitt
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